A Compelling Invitation to Holy Week: “Jesus So Lowly”

For Sunday, March 29, 2026
Jesus So Lowly by Friedell

By David Jolliffe

While the St. Paul’s congregation will be reimaging Jesus’ humble yet triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we are simultaneously preparing that day for Holy Week, culminating in the joyful celebration of Christ’s resurrection on Easter.  An ideal anthem for a day with this dual purpose is Harold Friedell’s moving composition “Jesus So Lowly,” which the St. Paul’s adult choir will sing at the 11 a.m. service on March 29.

This simple, meditative motet represents Jesus as teacher, teaching “that only love maketh glad”, and “how glorious death is to be.”  The text comes from a poem by Edith Williams, sister of noted British novelist, editor and theologian Charles Williiams. Here are the lyrics:

Jesus, so lowly, child of the earth:
Christen me wholly, bring me new birth.
Jesus, so lonely, weary and sad;
Teach me that only love maketh glad.
Jesus, so broken, silent and pale;
Be this the token, love will not fail.
Jesus, victorious, mighty and free;
Teach me how glorious death is to be. 

Friedell (1905 to 1958), a native of Queens, became a church organist at 16 and went on to hold permanent positions in several New York-area churches.  He studied at Julliard and earned top professional certifications from the American Guild of Organists and Trinity College London.  He was on the faculty of the Union Theological Seminary and in 1946 became organist-choirmaster at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church Park Avenue in New York.  In 1958, Friedell died of a heart attack while walking to the train station.